Press Releases

Jenna Bush Hager and Alexandra Pelosi to speak at Fairfield University on February 9

Raised in the political spotlight, now working for positive change

Jenna Bush Hager, daughter of President George W. Bush, and Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, will be the featured speakers for “Growing Up in the Political Eye: Private Lives in Public Spaces” at 8 p.m., Monday, February 9, at Fairfield University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

Part of the University’s Open VISIONS Forum series, the program is the University’s ninth annual Students Forum. The evening is sponsored, in part, by the University’s Office of Student Affairs, Harry’s Wine & Liquor Market and Delamar Southport. Moffly Media is the exclusive magazine sponsor for the 2014-15 Open VISIONS Forum.

Tickets are $45. For tickets, visit the Quick Center Box Office or www.quickcenter.com or call (203) 254-4010 or toll free at 1-877-ARTS-396.

Jenna Hager is a contributing correspondent on NBC’s “Today”show and an editor-at-large for Southern Living magazine. She is the author of The New York Timesbestseller “Ana’s Story: A Journey of Hope,” which she wrote after traveling to Latin America in 2006 as an intern with UNICEF. “Ana’s Story”is based on the life of a 17-year-old single mother with HIV, who struggles to shield her child from the life of abuse and neglect she had. Hager remains involved with UNICEF and is currently the chair of its Next Generation initiative, which is dedicated to reducing childhood deaths around the world.

Hager holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Texas at Austin. She is also co-author of the children’s book “Read All About It!” She is the daughter of former U.S. President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. In 2008, she married Henry

Hager and, in 2013, she gave birth to daughter Margaret Laura “Mila” Hager.

Alexandra Pelosi spent a decade as an NBC news producer. In 2000, she was assigned to cover the Bush campaign, which led to her first Emmy award-winning HBO documentary “Journeys with George,” which followed the future president, Hager’s father, on the campaign trail. Since then, she has made seven more films for HBO, including “Friends of God,” about evangelicals in America; “Right America; Feeling Wronged,” about the rise of the Tea Party Movement; and “Homeless: Motel Kids of Orange County.”

Pelosi is the author of two books, “Sneaking into the Flying Circus: How the Media Turn Our Presidential Campaigns into Freak Shows”and “Citizen USA: A 50 State Roadtrip.” She is currently working on her ninth HBO documentary, while serving as a real time reporter for HBO's “Real Time with Bill Maher,”and is an MSNBC contributor.

James Fitzpatrick, assistant vice president for Administration, said the Office of Student Affairs is pleased to be able to bring such accomplished guests to campus each year for the Students Forum. “I know that the Annual Students Forum has become one of Fairfield's most valued traditions,” he said, “and countless students met the likes of Senator Cory Booker, Mika Brzezinski and Fareed Zakaria, having one-on-one conversations and in many instances, life-changing realizations.”